1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a basketball, more particularly to a basketball having a plurality of cloth pieces and rubber patches that are adhered to an outer surface of a ball bladder.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D, a conventional basketball 1 is shown to include a ball bladder 11, a plurality of cloth pieces 12, and a plurality of rubber patches 13. The ball bladder 11 has an outer surface, which is formed with a rib network 110 that divides the outer surface of the ball bladder 11 into a plurality of areas 111. In the areas 111, the cloth pieces 12 are adhered to the outer surface of the ball bladder 11. The rubber patches 13 are adhered to the outer surfaces of the cloth pieces 12, respectively, to cover entirely the areas 111 of the outer surface of the ball bladder 11. During manufacture, the cloth pieces 12 are adhered to the rubber patches 13, which have the same size as the cloth pieces 12. Then, each of the assemblies of the cloth pieces 12 and the rubber patches 13 are cut into the structure shown in FIG. 1C, which has a peripheral cutout 14, and is subsequently adhered to a respective one of the areas 111 of the ball bladder 11. As such, the outer surfaces of the peripheries 131 of the patches 13 are flush with a top surface 1101 (see FIG. 1D) of the rib network 110. Because a groove network 15 is formed in the outer surface of the basketball 1 along the rib network 110, the user can easily hold the basketball 1. The aforesaid conventional basketball 1 suffers from the following disadvantages:
(1) It is time-consuming and expensive to effect a cloth-cutting process for forming the peripheral cutouts 14. PA1 (2) It is noted that one rubber material is adhered more easily to a piece of cloth than another rubber material. Because the cloth pieces 12 have tapered peripheries 121 (see FIG. 1D), no cloths are disposed between the ball bladder 11 and the peripheries 131 of the patches 13. As a result, the peripheries 131 of the patches 13 cannot be fixed firmly to the ball bladder 11 at positions 16 (see FIG. 1D).